Tech Heats Up at the Winter Olympics

Not only is Colorado leading the way in tech and innovation, it has the most Team USA athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Olympics have no shortage of tech to enhance the experience of athletes, attendees and viewers alike. With the capabilities of technology set on a global stage, here are some of our favorites so far:

#DroneGoals. Intel brought a light show to the sky during the opening ceremony, featuring 1,218 drones, breaking their own record of the “most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously” in the Guiness Book of World Records. And if that’s not enough, Intel will bring a 300-drone live performance each night to the medal ceremonies. "It's, in essence, technology meeting art," says Anil Nanduri, general manager of Intel's drone group, in a Wired article sharing more about the animated air display.

Olympics from space. Colorado-based DigitalGlobe has provided a view of the Olympic site in Pyeongchang from hundreds of miles above the Earth. Can’t you picture yourself there now? DigitalGlobe’s Jeff Robertson, SVP and CIO, and Christopher Martinez, CISO, will be celebrities at C-Level @ A Mile High on March 15 and available to meet and bid on a future meeting to support Colorado Technology Association’s largest fundraiser of the year.

Virtually real. The Pyeongchang Games will be the largest-scale virtual reality event to date, allowing viewers to watch 30 events with 360-degree broadcasts. Read more on how and when to have your own VR Olympic experience. If you don’t have a VR viewing device, watch 360-degree videos in magic window mode available via app.

Skiing robots. While robots aren’t yet eligible to receive a gold medal in alpine ski racing, they do deserve a medal for effort. Eight robotic teams from local universities and research labs took to the mountain on an 80-meter alpine skiing course to compete on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics. With humanoid requirements to compete and avoid obstacles as Lindsey Vonn would, may the best robot win. Robots will also perform a variety of services at the games including customer service and housekeeping.

Not-so-favorite moment. It was confirmed that a cyber attack occurred during the opening ceremony. The security breach took out internet access and telecasts, grounded broadcasters’ drones, shut down the Pyeongchang 2018 website and prevented spectators from printing out reservations and attending the ceremony, which resulted in an unusually high number of empty seats. With cybersecurity top of mind, you can meet some of Colorado’s top security professionals, including Patrick Hellman, Chief Security Officer (Arrow Electronics), Randall Frietzsche, CISO (Denver Health), Paul Kay, CISO (EchoStar) and others at C-Level @ A Mile High on March 15.